GRATTAN. 269 facturers did not do this when the taxes of Ireland were few, or when there was no military government in Ireland: however, as prejudices against this country increase, he supposes that commercial confidence may increase like wise. There is no contradicting a l l this, because argu ments which reason does not suggest reason cannot re move. Besides, the minister i n a l l this does not argue, but foretel; now you cannot answer a prophet, you can only disbelieve him. The premier finds a great absentee draft: h e gives you another; and, having secured t o you two complaints, h e engages t o cure both. Among the principal causes o f complaint, we may reckon another effect arising from the non-residence o f the Irish landlords, whose presence o n their own estates i s necessary for the succour, a s well a s the improvement o f their tenantry; that the peasants may not perish for want o f medicines, o f cordial, o r o f cure, which they can only find i n the administration o f the landlord, who civilizes them, and regulates them i n the capacity o f a magistrate, while h e covers them and husbands them i n that o f a protector, improving not only them but himself b y the exercise o f his virtues, a s well a s b y the dispensation o f his property, drawing together the two orders o f society, the rich and the poor, until each may administer t o the other, and civilize the one b y giving, and the other b y receiving; s o that aristocracy and democracy may have a head and a body; s o that the rich may bring o n the poor, and the poor may support the rich; and both contributing t o the strength, order, and beauty o f the state, may form that pillar o f society where a l l below i s strength, and a l l above i s grace. How does the minister's plan accomplish this 2 He withdraws the landed gentlemen, and then improves Irish manners b y English factors. The minister proposes t o you t o give u p the ancient inheritance o f your country, t o proclaim a n utter and blank incapacity t o make laws for your own people, and t o register this proclamation i n a n act, which inflicts o n this ancient nation a n eternal disability; and h e accompanies these monstrous proposals
